Lorain County dog license deadline gets extended

ELYRIA -- Lorain County dog owners who missed a Jan. 31 deadline to buy a dog license without paying a late fee will get a second chance during May to buy discounted licenses.

The decision to offer the amnesty month comes because the county auditor's office sent out renewal letters to owners that did not include a price for the licenses, and reminders were not sent out last year, said Lorain County Commissioner Lori Kokoski.

She said commissioners did not discuss extending the amnesty period from now until May, and while it will penalize those who buy dog licenses now, the extra time will give the county a chance to get the word out.

A dog license costs $14 for people under the age of 65 and $12 for those who are older. After Jan. 31, the fee doubled.

Advertisement

The county has not offered an amnesty program in the past, but there is precedent in other counties, said County Administrator Jim Cordes.

"It may energize people to come in," he said. "If you don't think about it, it is easy to forget, and the window to register is not a big one."

A bill in the state senate could change the need for a new dog tags every year.

Commissioner Tom Williams has been working with State Sen. Gayle Manning to try to amend a state law on dog licenses to allow for permanent tags and lifetime registration, he said.

The change would lessen the burden on the county auditor's office, Williams said.

"They basically have an individual who, during certain months, is working on this full time," he said. The auditor's office would no longer need to fill out tags, mail them out and log the tag information every year.

Counties could choose to keep the same system or switch to a system which uses a permanent tag, similar to a car's license plate. The tag could be renewed every year instead of having to send out new tags. The amendment to Ohio law would also give county commissioners the power to approve a lifetime dog registry, Williams said.

The change would also allow the county auditor to issue tags with a quick-response, or QR, code on it. "If I found a lost dog, I could scan the QR code, and that would give me whatever information the owner chose to put on it," he said.

The QR code would allow someone who found a dog to directly contact the owner rather than increasing the workload of the county dog warden, he said.